Victims of family violence left to their fate in Brussels

Perpetrators of family violence will no longer be prohibited from returning home. This is one of the crisis measures taken by the Brussels public prosecutor’s office due to the acute shortage of personnel. Brussels MP Mathias Vanden Borre responds with concern: “This impunity undermines all policy efforts. In 2021, we saw an increase in domestic violence, with mainly female victims. Even then, there were few criminal prosecutions. Despite all the media campaigns and punitive statements, we see that family violence in fact remains unpunished in Brussels. Worse still, perpetrators are granted access to the victims once again. This cannot end well.”

In a letter to the six Brussels chiefs of police, the public prosecutor’s office informs them that it must take some far-reaching crisis measures due to a shortage of magistrates. The result is that the Brussels public prosecutor’s office will follow up on a number of cases less well or even no longer at all. In addition, perpetrators of family violence will no longer be prohibited from returning home.  Vanden Borre: “The public prosecutor’s office is under the direct authority of Minister of Justice Van Quickenborne (Open Vld party). Unfortunately, we have known for a long time that justice is failing, and certainly in Brussels. But under the Vivaldi government, impunity seems to be becoming the norm.”

Six to seven cases per day

“In 2021, 2,355 acts of physical violence between partners were registered by the police, so six to seven per day. In addition, physical violence against offspring increased by 13% to 557 offences. In 2021, 66% of the 6,427 closed cases for which the public prosecutor’s office registered a context code of ‘domestic violence’ were dismissed,” Vanden Borre notes.

Against its own resolution

The Brussels-Capital Parliament adopted a resolution on domestic violence in 2020. It called for the next regional prevention and security plan to include an ambitious strategy to protect the victim and remove perpetrators of violence from their place of residence. “The Brussels public prosecutor’s crisis measure not to ban such offenders from returning home runs directly counter to that resolution,” notes Vanden Borre.

“Don’t bother too much”

The public prosecutor’s office is actually saying to the chiefs of police: don’t bother too much anymore about some cases; we won’t prosecute them anyway. “That will be demotivating. It also unintentionally sends a message to criminals: they will get the idea they can operate without consequence. The perception of impunity was already high in Brussels, and that will not improve with these crisis measures. The regional security council must urgently respond and force the federal government to intervene. After all, they are the same parties that unfortunately leave victims out in the cold,” Mathias Vanden Borre concludes.